Death to Reply-All - Copeland Coaching

Death to Reply-All My latest Memphis Daily News column is out, Death to Reply-All. In the past two decades, the way we communicate has completely changed. Twenty years ago, email was somewhat of a novelty. Today, it’s a necessity. It’s often more important you have access to your email than your office, or even your phone. Along with changes in our methods have come updates to the etiquette we use to communicate. When it comes to email, it’s important to pay attention to the unspoken rules to effectively get your message across. A personal pet peeve is the reply-all. Reply-all allows you to send an email to an entire group after you receive a message addressed to a large number of people. The problem is, many people use it ineffectively. Use reply-all to convey an important message to the entire group. Avoid using reply-all to say things like “Thanks,” or “Me too,” or “I can’t make that event, but have fun.” Just because no one speaks up doesn’t mean they haven’t noticed or are not at least a little annoyed. The worst part about reply-all is it’s like a virus. After one person does it, everyone else jumps on board. There are many more e-mail practices to keep in mind. To learn all of them, read my entire Memphis Daily News column here.